Instead of, Try: File Size Edition
Standard file sizes are out, compressed file sizes are so in. Here’s why.
Large, colorful, glorious images are the visual foundation of a website. They instantly draw visitors in, expertly showcase your brand and/or products, and show your audience that you’ve got it together. For us at WOTW, large images are one of the most requested features when we work with clients on their Squarespace sites. Clients want photography to span their site in the largest and most engaging way. Of course, we’re happy to oblige.
There is one major drawback, though: Large file sizes can completely slow down website speeds, leaving your visitors frustrated and impatient before they even start experiencing your site.
That’s why we often use Tinypng on Week of the Website projects. Tinypng is a plugin that compresses file sizes — including JPEG, PNG and WEBP — so that your site uses less bandwidth and loads faster, while still keeping the beauty and integrity of the original image.
Here’s how it works: Tinypng uses what’s called “lossy compression” to reduce file sizes. Lossy compression discards elements of the image that aren’t essential, keeping what makes them stand out while eliminating extra details that the viewer would likely not even notice anyway. Once those details are eliminated, the file size becomes smaller and… voila! Your site loads faster and visitors can take in the big, bold images while also navigating your website smoothly and efficiently.
Plus, if anything is going to show your audience that you’ve got it together, it’s a fast website.
